<p class="text2">Vang Vieng is a tourism-oriented town in Laos, located in Vientiane Province about four hours bus ride north of the capital. The town lies on the Nam Song river. The most notable feature of the area is the karst hill landscape surrounding the town.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="text2">Attractions of the town include inner tubing and kayaking on the Nam Song River, which is lined with bars selling Beer Lao and Lao-Lao, and equipped with rope swings, zip lines, and large decks for socializing.</p>
<p class="text2">The Vang Vieng local community have organised themselves into a cooperative business association to sell tubing as an activity, in a system in which 1,555 participating households are divided into 10 village units, with each village unit taking its turn on a ten-day rotation to rent inner-tubes to the tourists. Thanongsi Sorangkoun, owner of the organic farm in Vang Vieng, says that tubing inadvertently began in 1999 when he bought a few rubber tubes for his farm volunteers to relax on along the river. During the wet season, the river can be a series of rapids.<br /><br /><img style="float: left;" src="http://arasa-tour-laos.com/documents/Vang%20vieng1.jpg" alt="vang vieng" /><img style="float: right;" src="http://arasa-tour-laos.com/documents/Vang%20vieng2.jpg" alt="vang vieng" /><br /><br /></p>
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<p class="text2"><br /><br />Other activities include trekking and rock climbing in the Limestone Mountains.<sup><br /> </sup>There are also numerous caves, such as Tham Phu Kham cave half an hour from Vang Vieng by tuk-tuk or the Tham Jang cave closer to Vang Vieng. A market located five kilometres north of the town sells Lao textiles, household items and foodstuffs.</p>
<p class="text2">Just a short walk from town are many ethnic Lao, Kmou, and Hmong villages, while Vang Vieng Organic Farm is located around 4&nbsp;km north of the town in the village of Phoudindaeng. There are also opportunities for community involvement such as teaching, while it's also possible to stay in a house made of mud bricks at the organic farm.</p>
<p class="text2">Wat Done Hor is the oldest temple among five temples located in Vang Vieng, built in 1903.</p>
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<p><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;">References</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "Vang Veng Staying Longer Spending More". STDP Laos. August 2009.</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "History of Vang Vieng". MUONGLAO.COM. Retrieved 12 October 2011.</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "Vang Vieng". VangVieng.org. 2011.</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "Vang Vieng Travel Guide". Lao Travel Guide. 2008.</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "Vang Vieng tubing". goseasia. 2011.</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "Down the tube". sydney Morning Herald. 30 June 2011.</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "Vang Vieng ... as it used to be". Lao.co.uk. 2007.</span></em><br /><em><span class="text2" style="font-size: 10px;"> "Volunteer Laos - Vang Vieng". Travel to Teach. 2008.</span></em></p>